Suffering is defined in three different ways. The “ouch” suffering is the most common. The second kind of suffering is the suffering of change. I really like this thing that is happening right now, and I start grabbing onto it. Right away it is not so much fun anymore and I am grasping and worrying and thinking. In a case of cookies: well that cookie was good so the second one is going to be better and the third one is going to be great. Now I am heading towards some difficult stomach problems. The third kind of suffering, which is the most difficult for us to grasp, is just simply being in these bodies where we have no control over death. None of us want it, but it happens to everyone and that is where we are heading to. We do not know when and where we are going, and where our consciousness will be after death. There is also aging. I did not sign up to be 65, but here I am.

These are some of the things that we are thinking about fleeing from in this life and our future lives. What can you rely on? You want to find something reliable, not from out of the frying pan and into the fire, as we say. Which is mostly what we do. I take refuge in relationship A until that person does not do what I want, and now I am jumping over to refuge in relationship B! That is what will be the answer! But that person does not do what I want either. So maybe C, D or E. Well, good luck.

What are we taking refuge in? What are people taking refuge in? What am I taking refuge in at this moment? We take refuge all day. We rely on things all day. I was riding on an airplane and I realised, in a certain way, I am taking refuge in this airline pilot, this airline, their safety precautions, and in the people that check and build the airplanes. I stepped onto this plane and said, “Okay, take me up 30,000 feet and fly me around.”

Watch the kind of things that people grab. Relationships are really big. Entertainment. Food. Distractions. This is what we do. This is so human. When we get to our death, which of these things are we going to say, “I wished I had done a lot more. I wished I had seen a lot more movies. I wish I had read a lot more novels.” Or are we going to say, “I wished I had been kinder to people. I wish I had studied some more about what reality is, and the situation that I am in.”

“365 Gems of Wisdom” e-book is out now!